The musk ox

That's really all. I got a musk ox and I love him.

He's hand painted, carved of solid wood, and probably older than I am. Some of the gold paint still reflects light. I picked him up at Goodwill for $2 and now he's keeping the giraffe company on my coffee table.

Don Quixote (or how I brought home a ridiculously heavy statue)

The best part of thrift stores is finding bizarre, one-of-a-kind treasures that seem totally worthless to the general population. I have a terrible habit of bringing these things home.

I read Don Quixote de la Mancha when I was in middle school, and again when I took Spanish courses. I didn't understand much of it the first time around, but I loved the quirkiness of Don Quixote. So of course, when I saw this ridiculous statue in Goodwill, I was sure it was him.

Don't you love the shadow on the wall? I mean really, how many people have carved statues of knights in armor riding on horseback in their living rooms?

Besides, he coordinates well with the African figurine by the couch...

...and the Remington painting of a man on horseback. 

Poor Chris was with me in Goodwill while I debated whether I could take it home (it was $5, after all). He helpfully suggested that I could get rid of the ugly orange camel that had been living on top of the bookshelf. He dislikes Don Quixote less than he dislikes the camel, so it's a win-win for both of us. :)

Sorry, camel!

Updated pillows for summer

When I first moved in, I was looking for warmth and comfort. I whipped out a bunch of throw pillows for the living room in an attempt to make it feel homey and lived-in. Some of the fabrics I used were great for the fall and winter, but by spring I wanted an update.

I didn't want to make more pillows, though, so slipcovers were a natural choice. I picked up these napkins at Goodwill for $.50 and they matched my furniture perfectly. 

30 minutes later I had two finished pillow covers. They're bright enough to lighten the room, but they're not drastically different from the other patterns and textures already there. Pretty easy!

Tile coasters

This is not a terribly exciting project, but they're just so cute that I had to show you. There's a fun store full of bizarre junk (and treasures) on Wealthy called Phil's Stuff. Phil has a collection of really beautiful painted tiles that I've been wanting to use for a while.

I've been looking for ways to pick up the hand-painted Italian theme in the living room, where these pillows have been on their own.

Polaroid ceiling

Ok, I lied; they're not polaroids. But I really do have pictures strung across my ceiling. See?

This all started when I decided to string Handel's Messiah across my ceiling for Christmas. 

Directions here.

I finally took the letters down after 2.5 months, and my ceiling felt really naked.

So I looked at the few decorations I had up in the living room and decided to mimic the clothesline look I already had in the picture frames. 

I kept up the command hooks from the letters, and just re-strung twine in the same pattern.

I pulled the twine tight enough that it would hold several clothespins without sagging to head-height.

Then I got on a chair and hung 80 pictures back to back. This way you get a different view from each point in the room. 

This batch of pictures is mostly family, friends, important trips, and fond memories. It's a reminder of the people and experiences that have shaped me.

How do you display pictures? Which ones get places of honor in your home?

Curtains for wide windows

I really love the windows in my living room. Ok, I don't love that they leak cold air and that one shattered into my couch and that there's a massive spider living between the panes of one, but I do like how they look. I've been curtain shopping for a while, and I finally settled on some. But my windows are too wide for just one panel, and too narrow for two.

These are the Zinna print curtains from World Market.

So I bought three panels, cut one in half, and hemmed the rough edges. I kind of like the way it frames the corner and breaks up all the white.

Handel's Messiah on my ceiling

Yep, it's exactly what the title says. I hung the words (well, some of them) to Handel's Messiah on my ceiling. I was on Pinterest and stumbled across this post by Katie Did. She and her husband decorated for Christmas by hanging the words to Christmas carols:

I was inspired. I took a look at my sad, blank ceiling, and went to work.

I chose to do the words to Handel's Messiah, partly because I always listen to it at Christmas, but mostly because the words are straight Scripture that retell this season of waiting and our coming hope. These promises shape my daily living, and it's only natural that they have a prominent place in my home.

Coffee table restyle

When I first moved in I was using my lego table as the main coffee table in the living room. That was great, except that my coffee cups were always fighting with AT-STs and ewoks. So I watched craigslist, looking for a quirky table to fit my quirky space. My living room is connected to the entry, stairway, and dining room. This means it's as much a hallway as a room. I've worked around this by positioning the chair on an angle, effectively closing in the seating area and leaving room behind it for walking. 

This coffee table works perfectly with my funny angles. There's enough space to walk around it, but it's within reach of each couch. And here's the cool part:

Yes, it lifts up. Perfect for lazy nights when I just want to eat dinner and watch a movie on the couch. The table had been living in someone's garage, and it wasn't in great shape. And I already have a lot of different wood shades in the house. (Several people have complained that I ruined a perfectly lovely piece of furniture, but it's just composite wood and was kinda ugly. I have no regrets.)

Nesting

There were a few weeks after I landed the job and before I had found an apartment. It took me 4 weeks of searching online, calling landlords, driving 400 miles every weekend, and visiting lousy apartment after lousy apartment. I was stressed, and that made me want to nest. 

I knew I wanted to incorporate Italian tiles into my decor. On a whim, I decided to make pillows that looked like tiles.

I printed out black and white copies of the tiles, taped them to the window, and traced them with sharpies. It was time-intensive, but I love the results. I ironed the fabric to set the sharpie. 

Rug swap

Confession: this post isn't about anything secondhand or homemade. But it is about making my space comfortable and inviting, so I'll include it.

First I thought I wanted a warm round rug. I thought the round shape would accommodate my unusual furniture placement. The rug was supposed to be a warm gold, but it wasn't. So I sent it back.

Then I thought I wanted something bright and youthful, so I went with this rug. It reminds me of a peacock, and I thought it would pick up the blues and greens in my other pillows. But it was too busy for the room and stuck out oddly past the furniture, so I moved it upstairs.

I spent some time on Pinterest looking at what really made up the rooms I liked most. (Here's my home decor board.) I realized I like warm neutrals as a base, and pops of color as accents. So I found this brown and white striped rug, and got one big enough to fit all my furniture and extend a little bit into the walkway.

And I love stripes.

Frames, frames, frames!

 Once again, I started a project because I was tired of staring at blank white space. This is a shot of my living room wall. Nice, but dull.

I went on a thrift store rampage and came back with a variety of wooden frames (I had a few already from previous projects). I laid them out on the floor, trying to mix up colors and sizes and proportions.

My neighbors really liked the part where I hammered a lot of nails into the wall. Oops.